Almost as good as the summer of '95

Today, much like yesterday and the day before and, if all goes according to the weather forecasters plan, tomorrow at least, has been gorgeously unseasonal weather.  It is the 1 October, and today in my garden it was 27 degrees Celsius.  Scorchio! The same as in Barcelona in fact. Obviously this is all a little mixed up, but given I lost track of the days of the week some time ago, it is little wonder I am relatively unfazed by this burst of sunshine.  I have heard lots of mutterings, however, about how this week has made up for our lack of summer, and I think that this is being a little unkind to our temperamental British climate.  I have been hanging at home and thereabouts since May more or less, and so I feel I am in a good place to judge whether we have had a summer, and I think on balance we have.  Maybe not to the extent of the summers of my youth, my memories of which may be enhanced by some serious rose tinting, or probably more appropriately sun bleaching, but on the whole I think there have been more good days than bad.  Yes, of course there was a bout of very heavy rain during August when everyone complained a lot, but I have spent a lot of time in the garden, and in the local parks which leads me to believe that on balance the summer was a net success this year.

Possibly one reason for the doom and gloom from a meteorological perspective from the British masses, may be that unlike me most people have had to go to work from Monday to Friday for the past few months.  And I think it is fair to say, that many people only consider it a good summer if it is sunny at weekends.  Contrary to popular belief it is not so long since I too sat in an office and looked out of the window and saw the rays of sunshine beating down making the roads shimmer and everyone outside look glitzy - even in Croydon the sunshine can work wonders.  And I think if I'm honest, I would only really count glorious summer days as being those when I could enjoy the great outdoors, which is why the my childhood summers where I spent most of the time out in the garden, or playing with friends always seemed much hotter, sunnier and memorable.

Another indicator of the success of the summer in my view is the longevity of my tan.  Mr Man and I spent three weeks in Vietnam in April/May of this year, which was hot and we got a bit brown.  We then had a week in Spain in July, but apart from this the rest of the time has been in the glorious United Kingdom.  And despite the fact I have not actively sunbathed at home, I have been outside and this has been enough to top up the tan (safely of course with factor 15 applied once an hour even if sitting in the shade), to the extent where many a medical practitioner has commented on my healthy tan, and one particular consultant was so confused during the diagnostic phase, that he remarked that I looked too healthy to be as ill as the test results were telling him. All thanks to a daily dose of natural vitamin D. Marvellous.

So, today the happy thought is that despite all of this medical mayhem and initial uncertainty, I have had the benefit of really appreciating the Great British weather in all its glory this summer, and this in turn has contributed to my healthy appearance in the mirror each day.  Which at the end of the day is a big bonus on this quest. Someone I admire greatly often says, "Be the change you want to see", but in this case I think it is just as important to turn it on its head and "See the change you want to be". I see healthy everyday.